The present invention relates to a mounting apparatus for mounting a product to a structure. More particularly, the present invention relates to a mounting apparatus for mounting a bicycle fork to a shipping container.
Shipping containers are utilized to safely transport products from one place to a second place. One example of a shipping container which is designed to safely transport products from one place to another is a shipping container designed for the transportation of bicycles. Two such shipping containers are described in detail in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,520,280 and 6,039,243. Such shipping containers, however, do not fix the bicycle therein such that the bicycle is loose within the shipping container when the container is shipped, thus possibly allowing the bicycle to be damaged during shipping.
Therefore, an apparatus is provided for holding a product in place during shipping such that the product is not loose within the shipping container, thus preventing damage to the product during shipping. The present invention provides such an apparatus which utilizes a self-locking fastener which also overcomes disadvantages of prior art self-locking fasteners. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,863 discloses a self-locking fastener having a post and a clip. When the post is inserted into the clip, the clip immediately engages the post and locks the post into position. Pulling the post from the opposite end from the engagement thereof with the clip, will initiate disengagement of the post from the clip which can be undesirable.
Features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon a reading of the attached specification, in combination with a study of the drawings.